World War 3: India and Pakistan leaders issued with &#039;PLEA&#039; to halt ESCALATING VIOLENCE

In a letter addressed to both Narendra Modi and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, the Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan respectively, the letter urged the use of dialogue to prevent conflict that could lead to World War 3.

It told the two figures to “resume ceasefire on borders and begin the process of dialogue to resolve the Kashmir issue by including all the people of Jammu and Kashmir”.

The letter urging to halt violence between the two nations comes at a time when ceasefire violations rose to 881 on the borders in 2017.

The horrifying figure marks a 230 per cent increase compared with 2016 – it is also the highest count in over 10 years.

Last month saw 134 violations between the two nations as tensions have failed to ease.

Over 12 people have already been killed in cross-border conflicts this year.

Anuradha Bhasin, the Executive Director of the Indian newspaper, the Kashmir Times, declared the situation between the two South Asian nations was turning “from bad to worse”.

He explained: “The situation is going from bad to worse on the borders.

“That has only increased the sufferings of people on both sides.”

Mr Bhasin is involved in the creation of a petition that is pushing for an end to the frightening confrontations.

It states that if tensions continue “it will jeopardise the stability of the region and might escalate into an all-out war”.

Pakistan has continued to shell across the disputed border known as the Line of Control (LoC) that killed four Indian soldiers on February 4 and promoted an outcry of revenge from New Delhi.

India’s Defence Minister warned earlier this month that Pakistan “will pay” for an attack on an army base in the Jammu region.

Nirmala Sitharaman declared that Pakistan was “expanding the arc of terror” following the devastating attack and vowed to avenge the killings.

She stated: “Our intelligence inputs indicate that these terrorists were being controlled by their handlers from across the border.

“Pakistan is expanding the arc of terror resorting to ceasefire violations (on the border) to assist infiltration.

“Pakistan will pay for this misadventure.”

Following the attack, New Delhi pointed the finger at Pakistani military group Jaish-e-Muhammad for carrying out the attack on the army base that houses over 3,500 troops.

Most of the conflict between the two countries has taken place in the boundary separating the Indian-controlled region of Kashmir and the Pakistan province of Punjab.

India has long accused Pakistan of training and arming militants and helping them infiltrate across the heavily militarised LoC into Jammu and Kashmir, India’s only Muslim majority state.

Since India-Pakistan split 71 years ago the nations have fought each other in three wars, two over the Kashmir region, which they both claim in full but rule in part.